Oliver Twist Character List

Oliver Twist

Oliver is a young, good-hearted, and kind--but often mistreated--orphan who is raised in a workhouse, and finds himself indentured to an undertaker, living with thieves, and eventually taken in by the kind Mr. Brownlow and Mrs. Maylie. His generosity of spirit is total, and even when faced with serious maltreatment, he never loses his sense of morality or kindness.

Fagin

A very old man, with a villainous-looking and repulsive face, Fagin is the leader of a gang of boy thieves, and a very greedy and vicious man. It is Fagin who tries to turn Oliver into a thief, and who betrays Nancy to Sikes, leading to her death.

Mr. Brownlow

Mr. Brownlow is a very respectable-looking elderly gentleman, who has had his heart broken many times, including losing his fiancee on the day of their wedding. He takes a liking to Oliver even after suspecting him of stealing his handkerchief, and takes him in, doing everything he can to help him.

Nancy

Nancy is a young woman and prostitute raised into that profession by Fagin. Nancy eventually betrays Fagin and Sikes to save Oliver, but she will not leave them, and pays her life for this decision.

Bill Sikes

A stoutly-built man in his thirties, Bill is a vicious housebreaker and thief who often works with Fagin, and is involved with Nancy. He often mistreats, and eventually kills her.

Rose Maylie

Rose is Mrs. Maylie’s niece, a beautiful seventeen-year-old woman, who is both intelligent and perfectly kind. She is an orphan who is taken in by Mrs. Maylie, and ends up marrying Harry Maylie.

Mr. Bumble

Mr. Bumble is the beadle of the parish, a fat and choleric man who takes great joy in abusing those below him, and is often offended by their impositions on him.

Edward Leeford

Edward is Oliver’s half-brother, who goes by the alias Monks for most of the novel. He offers to pay Fagin to corrupt Oliver, so that he may have Oliver’s inheritance. He is in his late twenties, but haggard in appearance, with extremely deep set eyes, and suffers from fits.

Mrs. Maylie

Mrs. Maylie is an older lady, who despite her age is very dignified and stately. She is the owner of the mansion that Sikes and Crackit attempt to rob, the mother of Harry Maylie and the adopted aunt of Rose Maylie. In her kindness, she takes Oliver in.

Jack Dawkins

Jack Dawkins is better known as the artful Dodger, he is common looking enough but with the airs and manners of a man, although he is about Oliver’s age. He is Fagin’s best pickpocket, and it is he who finds Oliver and leads him to London and to Fagin’s place.

Charley Bates

Charley Bates is a sprightly young friend of the Dodger’s and another of Fagin’s boys. He is very excitable, and laughs often. Other than Oliver, he is the only of Fagin’s boys to end up making an honest living.

Mrs. Corney

Mrs. Corney, later Mrs. Bumble, is the matron of the workhouse at which Oliver was born. She has been a widow for twenty-five years, and ends up marrying, dominating and humiliating Mr. Bumble.

Mr. Losberne

Mr. Losberne is the doctor who tends to Oliver after the shooting, an eccentric, kind, hearty and fat gentleman, who often acts without forethought, but is universally liked. He agrees to help the ladies try to protect Oliver.

Mrs. Bedwin

Mrs. Bedwin is Mr. Brownlow’s housekeeper. She is a kind and motherly old lady who takes care of Oliver in his illness, and never doubts his honesty even when he disappears with Mr. Brownlow’s books and money.

Mr. Grimwig

Mr. Grimwig is an old friend of Mr. Brownlow’s, who is a little rough in manners, but a worthy man. He is a stout old gentleman who talks something like a parrot and has a strong taste for contradiction, and threatening to eat his own head.

Noah Claypole

Noah is a charity-boy with a fierce look who works for the undertaker and enjoys bullying Oliver. He later, with Charlotte, steals from the Sowerberrys and runs away to London, where he joins Fagin’s gang.

Harry Maylie

Harry is Mrs. Maylie’s son. He is about 25, has a frank and handsome face and an easy demeanor, and is deeply in love with Rose. Although first ambitious, he chooses to be come a country cleric so that he will be on Rose’s level, and she will agree to marry him.

Mr. Giles

Mr. Giles is a rather fat man who works as butler and steward to Mrs. Maylie. He shoots Oliver during the robbery, which he is at first very proud of, then very guilty about.

Toby Crackit

Bill Sikes’s partner in crime, Toby is known for his flashiness and ability to seduce servants into helping him and Sikes break in.

Mr. Sowerberry

Mr. Sowerberry is the parochial undertaker, a tall and gaunt man, who takes Oliver on as an indentured servant. He rather likes Oliver, but cannot stand up to his wife’s hatred of the orphan.

Mrs. Sowerberry

Mrs. Sowerberry is the undertaker’s wife, a short, thin woman with a vixenish countenance, who has a strong dislike for Oliver, and treats him accordingly.

Mr. Brittles

Mr. Brittles is a short and heavy man who has worked for Mrs. Maylie since he was a child as a “lad of all-work.” Everyone in the household still considers him a boy, although he is in his thirties.

Barney

Barney is the waiter at The Three Cripples. He has a very nasal voice and also works for Toby Crackit.

Charlotte

The Sowerberry’s servant, Charlotte will do anything for Noah Claypole, including stealing twenty pounds from the Sowerberry’s and running away to London.

Tom Chitling

Another of Fagin’s boys, Chitling is eighteen, but not as accomplished a thief as the Dodger, and has just come from spending six weeks in jail.

Mr. Blathers

Mr. Blathers is an officer from Bow Street, a stout man of about fifty, who comes to Mrs. Maylie’s after the robbery.

Mr. Duff

Mr. Duff is an officer from Bow Street, a red-headed, bony man with a sinister expression, who comes to Mrs. Maylie’s after the robbery.

Dick

Dick is a young companion of Oliver’s at the workhouse, who blesses Oliver as he runs away from the undertaker’s. Dick dies before Oliver can come back to save him.

Betsy

Betsy is a young woman prostitute who visits at Fagan's. Sheis a little messy and not quite pretty, but free and easy and hearty. She goes crazy when she sees Nancy's dead body.

Mrs. Mann

Mrs. Mann runs the orphanage where Oliver grows up. She keeps for herself most of the money allotted by the parish for the care of the orphans, and neglects them rather steadily.

Mrs. Thingummy

Also known as Old Sally, Mrs. Thingummy is an old woman pauper who acts as nurse during Oliver’s delivery, while having had a little too much beer. She steals a locket from Oliver’s dead mother, which holds the key to his identity.

 

Mr. Fang

Mr. Fang is the magistrate to whom Oliver is taken when accused of stealing the handkerchief. He is a lean, long-backed, stiff-necked, middle-sized balding man, with a stern and flushed face.

 

The bookstall keeper

The bookstall keeper is the man who saw the robbing of Mr. Brownlow, and convinces Mr. Fang to drop the charges against Oliver.

 

Mr. Kags

Mr. Kags is a fifty-year-old robber and ex-convict with a scarred face, who is companions with Toby Crackit

 

Mr. Gamfield

Mr. Gamfield is a chimney sweep who is in debt to his landlord, and so is intrigued by the workhouse’s offer of Oliver and, more importantly, five pounds. He is a very cruel man who has already caused the death of several young chimneysweeps apprenticed to him.

 

Mr. Lively

Mr. Lively is a small man who works in Saffron Hill, buying and selling stolen goods.

 

The master

The master is a fat, healthy man, who is in charge of giving out the food at the workhouse.

 

Mr. Limbkins

Mr. Limbkins is a member of the board of the workhouse.